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Jones, David 1997, 20th century landscape design in Adelaide : three significant designers, Journal of the historical society of South Australia, no. 25, pp. 35-57.

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Copyright : 1997, The Author 20th Century Landscape Design in Adelaide: Three Significant Designers

David Janes'

Landscape Design in Australia Landscape design implicates both the art and science of space manipulation and placement of vegetation to create pleasing spaces for human use. Unlike other states in Australia, South Australia does not possess a strong tradition in this discipline.' Marion Blackwell, the Oldhams·and Lady Brodie-Hall [Jean Verschuer] led the evolution of the Western Australian tradition. Edna Walling, Gordon Ford, ElIis Stones, Mervyn Davis, Beryl Mann, Grace Fraser and Olive Melior are early well known designers in Victoria. Jocelyn Brown, Paul Sorenson, Nigel Ashton, Professor Leslie Wilkinson, Denis Winston, Professor Peter Spooner, Marion Mahony and Waiter Burley Griffin laid the foundations of the NSW landscape design community. Elsewhere, Harry Oakman and Don . Monger in Brisbane, and Phyl Simons also contributed to this process. The lack of a strong tradition in South Australia appears to be a consequence ofits semi-arid environment, poor soils, lack of a horticulture school, and the lack of a strong culture in gardening. This has, notwithstanding the rich horticultural and viticultural heritage in the state and the legacY of hill-station gardens in the Adelaide Hills, inhibited the evolution of a strong landscape design culture in the state.' There are, however, a number of landscape designers who have left an indelible impression upon the environment ofSouth Australia. This article outlines the development and booms in landscape design in the state and reviews, in particular, the role, projects and philosophies of three of the most prominent South Australian landscape designers in the twentieth century.

Dr David Jones is Senior Lecturer in Landscape Architecture in the School ofArchileeture, Landscape Architecture & Urban Design al the University of Adelaide.

1. David S. Jones, Designed lAndscapes in South Australia: ThoJn'i£.a/ Fram~rk.s for DesigMd Landsca~ inAwtralLa-SouthAusrralian Report, School ofArchilecture, Landscape Architecture & Urban Design, Univel'jity of Adelaide, 1997, P 44. 2 ibid, pp 33, 40-41, 43-44. 36 20th Century Landscape Design in Adelaide

Foundations of a Tradition The initial interest in plants and landscape design in the colony arose from the early establishment o(nurseries and early botanical explorations. The strong Prussian or German botanical community during the 1840s to 1860s in South Australia left a strong footprint upon its botanical profile and Botanic Gardens legacy. The roles and ideas of Schomburgk, Krickauff, Behr, van Mueller, Heyne, Hillebrand and Heuzenroeder informed South Australian plant science. Van Mueller (1825-96) received his botanical training at the University of Kiel before arriving in Adelaide in December 1847; Dr Hans Herman Behr (1818-1904) was trained in medicine at Wurzburg under his mentors Karl Ritter and Alexander van Humboldt; Dr William Hillebrand (1821-86) was trained in medicine at Heidelberg; Heinrich Heuzenroeder came out on the same ship with van Mueller from Duderstadt; Friedrich Eduard Heinrich Wulf Krichauff (1824-1904) was born in Schleswig, also trained at the University of Kiel and became a life-long friend ofvan Mueller; Dr Moritz Richard Schomburgk (1811-91) was born at Freiburg in Saxony; Ernst Bernhard Heyne (1825-81), originally employed at the Dresden Botanic Gardens, was apprenticed under van Mueller in Melbourne.' The intertwining of a strong Prussian or Gemian education system in medicine and botany, informed by the ideas of Ritter and van Humboldt, .appears to have underpinned the development of botany as a science in South Australia. This presence prompted the eXtensive and detailed vegetation surveys that were. undertaken, the later important endeavours of the individuals mentioned here, and the establishment of the Botanic Gardens in Adelaide. The first nurseries in Adelaide were established in the 1838-1840 period. Thomas Alien & Sons advertised their services in the first issues of the SouthAustraLUm Gazette & Colonial Register in June 1838, and occupied land on the old Botanic Gardens site. In 1841 John Bailey established his own nursery, 'Bailey's Garden' or 'Hackney Nursery' in Kent Town, after previously running an Adelaide Citizens' Committee sponsored nursery or 'botanic garden' for the previous year, which persisted on the same site until the property was subdivided in 1881. At the same time Charles Giles

3. Darrell N. Kraebenbuehl, 'Pioneer German Botanists in Colonial South Australia: The Ones Who Stayed-And Those Who Left', unpublished paper presented al the Barossa Valley Festival. 1991. pp 1-19; Jones, op cil, pp 29, 44-45; John H. Maiden, 'A Century of Botanical Endeavour in South Australia', republished address, 1908, 'Records of Australian Botanists', BaIT Smith ubral)', pp 158.199; Enid Robertson, 'Botany', in CR. Twidale, MJ. Tyler & M. Davies (eds), Ideas & End.eavoun-Tm Natural S~nu5 in South Australia, Royal Society of South Australia lnc, Adelaide, 1986, pp lOl-149; Or Pauline Payne, perwnal communicallon, 1996. David lanes 37 established his Grove Hill Nursery at Norton Summit and an 'Exotic Nursery' in Kent Town in 1857.' George Stevenson (1799-1856), the first editor of the South Australilln Gazette & Colonial Register, patronised the horticultural industry in the Gazette, engaged George McEwin as gardener and author, and established the 'Leawood' gardens. McEwin went on to work for George Anstey at 'Highercombe' and to establish his own Glen Ewin Nursery. Edwin Smith acquired Chas M Ware's 1851 established Clifton Nursery at Walkerville in 1863, and in about 1874 took over the 'Leawood' nursery lease. Hackett's Nursery was established in the mid 1850s and was expanded on land at Marryatville in 1863, before the family shifted the nursery operation to Goodwood in the 1920s. Charles FrederickNewmann (b Carl Friedrich Neumann) established the 'Water Gully' 'Model Nursery' near Highercombe in the late 1850s, and the family maintained the extensive nursery holdings until the property was subdivided.in 1932.' Later participants include author and seedsman Ernst Heyne; he established nursery operations in 1870 in Norwood before the business and trading name was shifted to Beulah Park in 1928 where it continues today. Henry Sewell established a nursery in the late 1860s and was trading by 1871 in Payneham; he also established the West Marden Nursery in 1887 and in 1897 the A1dgate Nursery. Herbert Kemp established the Unley Park Nurseries in 1890 and later the Kingswood Nursery, and Kemp's family acquired the A1dgate Nursery from Sewell's estate in 1929.'

Early Landscape Design Commissions The first professionally prepared landscape design proposal in South Australia was in 1880 for the Adelaide Parklands by John Ednie Brown (1848-99) as a commission from the City ofAdelaide Council. Brown, then Conservator of Forests (1875-90), proposed a remarkably detailed design.' that is reminiscent of the ideas of John Claudius Loudon (1783-43)8 in the

4. Jones, op cil, pp 33, 40-41; Roben F.G. Swinboume, Yea1'3' ofErukavour:: an historical record oftM Nurseries, Nurserymen, Sudtmen, and Horticultural mails outku ofSouth Ausrralw, South Australian Association of Nurserymen, Adelaide, 1982, pp 1, 3-4. 5. Jones, op cil, pp 40-41; Swinboume, op cit, pp 4-6, 8, 10-11, ]3·14, 16-17. 6. Jones,op cil, pp 25-33. 7. John Ednie Brown, &ponon a System ofPJo.nting in theAdeJo.ith Parlc lAnds, Forest Board, Adelaide sA. 1880. 8. Elizabeth Macdougall (ed), John CJo.udiw Loudon and the early Ni~teenth Century in Great Brito.in, Washington, 1980. 38 20th Century Landscape Design in Adelaide

United Kingdom and Frederick LawOlmsted (1822-03)' in the USA and Canada. Brown, the son of lames Brown, the Deputy-Surveyor of Woods and Forest in Scotland and expert on European arboriculture, was well trained in the practical management of nurseries and estates of England and Scotland. Many of these estates had carefully considered the ideas, design and writings of 'Capability' Lancelot Brown, Humphry Repton and lames Claudius Loudon. Following an apprenticeship as Assistant Agent and Forester for the large 1nvercauld estate in Aberdeenshire, Brown moved to England and was responsible for the design and management of several plantations and estates in Yorkshire and Sussex." Before his appointment as Conservator in 1878 Brown had spent 1871-72 visiting the USA and Canada reviewing forestry practices and the creation of estates. Following this visit he wrote 'Report upon Trees found in California' and 'Forests of the Eastern States of America', for which he received the gold medal of the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland, and 'The Trees of America' essay which won the Scottish Arbor­ icultural Society prize. It is most likely he heard ofthe activities ofOlmsted in the USA and Canada and visited his Central Park and Niagara Parkway designs.ll Some of the planting design structure and plant selection proposed in Brown's Adelaide Parklands Report appears to have been implemented. Mayor [Sir] Edwin Smith subsequently invited Brown to serve as 'Conserv­ ator of Parklands' or 'Supervisor of the Adelaide Park Lands and Square Plantations' to permit the implementation of his recommendations.'2 During the late 1800s Adelaide society established extensive summer estates in the Hills to escape the heat and indulge in plant cultivation pursuits. Rhododendrons, camellias, and northern hemisphere pines, conifers, oaks, ashes and maples were extensively planted around houses and as small plantations. Many of these estates, such as 'Glenalta', 'Beechwood', 'Wairoa', Forest Lodge', 'The Chestnuts', 'St Vigeans' and 'Panmure', still bear this legacy.l3

9. Albert Fein, FredoU:k Law OIm.rt.ed aNi theAmeril:tln Environmental Tradition, Braziller, New York, 1972; Lauren W. Roper, FLO: Q biography ofFrederick LAw Olmsted, Macmillan, New York, 1974. 10. R. Rcfshaugc, 'John Ednie Brown',AwtraIian DictioMryofBiognIphy, ]851-1890, Vo13, MUP, 1969, pp 261-262. 11. ibut. 12. Peter Monon,AftuLight: A His/ory oleM City ofAdeltJide and its Cowu;il1878·192B, Wakefield Press, Adelaide, 1996, p 166. 13. Rodney Owen Beames & J. Anlhony (Tony] Whitehill, Some Hisroric Gankns in South Awrralia, National Trust ofSouth Australia, Adelaide, 1981, pp 7-10. 29-34, 35-38. 59-64, 77-80. 87-90; Roma Hodgkinson, 'Gardens and Gardening in Adelaide in the Nineteeth Century',Jounwloftht HistoriaJl SocieryofSou1hAusrraliIJ. Vol19, ]991, pp 42·77. David lones 39

The depression and turn of the century witnessed a lull in these pursuits. Interest in gardening resurfaced in Adelaide in the 1920s and 1930s with new plantings on the Parklands, and the development and re-design of estates in the Hills. Both were aided by the proliferation of garden literature in the Advertiser and Sunday Mail, and in house-and-garden magazines coming out of Melbourne and Sydney. Estates and gardens such as 'Broadlees', 'Urrbrae', 'Springfield', 'Carrick Hill', or the Walling­ designed garden in Medindie are evidence of this interest, as also are the re-design of 'Tusmore', 'Forest Lodge', 'Carminow' and 'Raywood'.

Early 20th Century Landscape Design Directions & Practitioners The 1920s and 1930s in Adelaide was particularly influenced by the writings of Melbourne-based Edna Walling (1898-1973) and Olive Melior (1891-1978), and the ideas ofprominent Adelaide architect Waiter Hervey Bagot (1880-1963), nurseryman Jack Kemp from Kemp's Nurseries, writing under the pseudonym 'Grevillea',14 and landscape designer Elsie Marion Cornish (1887-1946). Melior often wrote in the Advertiser under the pseudonym 'Quercus',1' and Walling was a prolific contributor to the Australian Home Builder and Australian Home Beautifu/.l6 Bagotis more commonly associated with architectural commissions around South Australia, and the firm Woods Bagot, but he had strong interest in garden design." Properties in the Bagot family, 'Nurney House' and 'Forest Lodge', still .possess his fascination with Italian art, architecture and the principles of garden design." Prominent architectural commissions, including 'Broadlees' and the University ofAdelaide's North Terrace campus, illustrate his concern and interest in landscape design. He believed that the simplicity of Italian domestic architecture and of English Georgian offered the best models for South Australia's Mediterranean

14. Swinbourne,opciJ,p54. 15. O. Melior, Compkre Australian Garrhno lUustrated, Colorgravure Publicalion, Melbourne, nd. 16. For example: Edna Walling, Theplanting oflittle trees',AwtTalian Home Buikkr. April 1925; 'Use of little trees', AustTalUrrl Home Buildo, May 1925; 'The Italian influence in our Australian native gardens', Australian Home Beautiful, December 1933; 'The use of boulders and the choice of rock plants' ,AUJ1J"Qliarl Home Beawiful, July 1935; 'The building of Senning 2' ,Australian Home Beautiful, January 1936; .Aswimming pool that fits into the landscape',AustralUrrl Home Beauli[u1, April 1941. 17. Dean F. Berry, 'Walter Hervey Bagol',Al./St7lUU2r1 Di.ctiDNJryBiography 1891.1939, VoI3,opcir, p 133. 18. R Beames & JAE. Whitehill, Some Hisronc Garrkm in Sowh Austrolia, op cit, pp 29-34, 69-71; Michael Page, Sculptor! in Space: Sowh Awrralian Architeeu 1836-1986, RAlA (SA Chapter), Adelaide, 1986, p 148. . 40 20th Century Landscape Design in Adelaide climate. His concern for lree planting and as a supporter of plans to improve the Parklands and establishment of the National Trust of South" Australia, were rewarded with positions as a Commissioner ofthe National Park at Belair and a Governor of the Botanic Gardens. He believed that 'buildings need the caressing of trees to relieve their hardness.'l' Cornish was the most prominent landscape designer in Adelaide from the 1920s to "the 40s". Her work and projects earned her the patronage of Bagot, the Waitefamilyand the State Governor's wife, Lady Gowrie, amongst others.20 11 was not until after the two wars and the rise of prosperity under the Playford administration that landscape design re-appeared. The work of the South Australian Housing Trust in developing new housing estates prompted a culture in quarter acre blocks, especially at Elizabeth. The barrenness of the Salisbury Plains, and visits to English new towns by the then Trust Director Alex Ramsay prompted him to ensure that attention was given to the greening ofthese estates and to encourage gardening by its new residents.'! John Dwight prepared the Trust's Gardening Handbook which was provided to every new householder in Elizabeth."

Directions in Mid 20th Century Landscape Design In Adelaide, interest in landscape design in the 1950swas publicly encour­ aged by the Director ofthe Botanic Gardens ofAdelaide, Noel Lothian (b 1915), and attempts by Gavin Walkley (b 1911) to establish a landscape design course at the School of Mines (since then the South Australian Institute ofTechnology, SAlT, and now the University ofSouth Australia). Lothian, trained in horticulture at Burnley, the Kew Gardens and in Christchurch, was appointed Director of the Gardens in 1948 and remained in the position for 33 years, retiring in 1980. Although he had strong views on garden design, Lothian recognised the need to engage a landscape architect on projects. His principal publications, The Practical Home Gardener (1955), with emphasis upon semi-arid environments, and

19. Berry, opeiJ, p 133; Page,op cit, p 149; Kerrie Round, 'The Formation of the National Trust of South Awtralia', JOumtl/ a/tIlL Historical Society OfSoulhAustralia, Vcl 22, 1994, P 26. W. Anon, 'Death of Miss Elsie Cornish: Landscape Garden Designer', Advertiser, October 23, 1948. 21'. A.M. Ramsay, 'Factors affecting the siting and design of Elizabeth', Procwiings of tM Royal GeographiJ::o.l Sociery ofAustrawia (SoulhAwtralian Branch) 57, 1956, pp 5-]4. 22. John Dwigbl (cd), SouthAwtraUall Housing TfUSt Gardening Handbook, SAHT, Adelaide. circa 1956. David Jones 41

Growing Australian Plants (1964) with Ivan Holliday, are still standard gardening texts for South Australia." Lothian had a big influence in changing local attitudes to planting in suburban gardens. He recognised that South Australia is the driest state on the continent and his public lectures, regular TV appearances and radio broadcasts argued the case for water conservation planting techniques and drought-tolerant species. 24

Walkley, appointed Head of the School of Architecture and Building at the School of Mines in 1951, and trained as an architect in Adelaide, still regrets the bureaucracy and lack of funding that impeded his attempts in the 50s and early 60s to establish a landscape design course at the Institute." He was personally very interested in the discipline, having examined the Durham course under Professor Brian Hackett in 1949 and returning to Adelaide with books, syllabuses and information from the (British) Institute ofLandscape Architects. Walkley succeeded in offering a Certificate course in landscape design in February 1965 and landscape architect A1lan Correy was engaged in December as a half-time lecturer following his resignation from the Gardens."

Mid 20th C Landscape Design Practitioners The principal landscape design practitioners of the late 1950s imd to the early 1970s in Adelaide include Ray Holliday, Robin Hill, Richard (Dick) Massey and Bill Potts. Each has had a strong impact upon Adelaide. After working as a cherry orchardist at Cherry Gardens Holliday held various horticultural positions before being appointed Manager of the Athelstone Wildflower Garden at Black Hill in 1963. After eight years in the position he became Landscape Manager for the ambitious Delfin project at West Lakes before establishing his own landscape design practice, Ray Holliday & Associates, in 1974. A recipient of numerous

23. Correspondence, Allan Correy to David S. Jones, November 25, 1996, P 3; David S. Jones, 'Planting Design Literature in South Australia', LaruisCJ1pt!Ausrra/iQ 19 (1),1997, pp 38, 95; NoelLDthian, 1M PractictJ./ Home Garcknu: a guide to the adtivation ofplo.nJs in Austrolia., wilh spt!cUJ/ detailsfor the dno ~rtS, LDthian Publishing Co, Melbourne, 1955; NoelLDthian & Ivan Holliday, GrowingAustraIian PllJnts. Rigby, Adelaide, 1964. 24. Correspondence, Correy to Jones, 25 November 1996, p 3. 25. Gavin Walkley. personal communication, 1996. 26. Gavin Walklcy, Louis Laybo~ Smith School of ArchiJe~: A brkf hUlOry 19Q6.76, South Australian Institute of Technology, Adelaide, 1976, pp 57, 58-60. 42 20th Century Landscape Design in Adelaide

Civic Trust of South Australia Inc. awards and commendations in landscape design, he still possesses a strong commitment to the use of indigenous plant materials in design projects." Potts, trained in horticulture in the United Kingdom, was the long-standing Director of Parks & Gardens for the City of Burnside. A prominent figure, he was the persona of an English gardens manager. Sporting a handle-bar moustache, hacking jacket and earthy ties, he supervised the transposition of the Chelsea Garden from London into Burnside. These included rustic stone bridges and walls, manicured lawns, colourful exotic trees and shrubs, irrespective of their extravagant demands for water, features still common ihroughout Burnside.28 Massey and Hill began their design training in Jack Kemp's Kingswood Nursery under the eye of 'office' manager Max Shelley. This 'office' established a reputation for formal but creative garden design, and progressively adopted Californian landscape design ideas espoused by Garrelt Eckbo and Thomas Church. Massey & Hill was formed in 1956 as the first landscape design practice in Adelaide and specialised in mainly domestic garden design projects. The practice split in 1959, the two partners continuing to practice as separate offices up until the mid to late 19705."

Maturation of the Profession The 1960s marked a maturation of the profession and a strengthening of the its presence. Walkley's ill-fated Certificate course commenced in February 1965; Lothian appointed the South Australia's first landscape architect (Allan Correy) in December 1961; the Mount Lofty Botanic Gardens was being planned; Lothian & Holliday's Growing Australian Plants (1964) was published; the Athelstone Wildflower Garden plant nursery became popularly known for its indigenous plant nursery (the first indigenous species nursery in South Australia); the Civic Trust of South Australia Inc. was established in March 1969 out ofa concern for the urban design degradation and mis-planning in the state; the Royal Australian Institute of Architects organised Outrage Symposium, Outrage (1966).

27. David S. Jones, 'The Civic Trust in South Australia: The community playing urban design watchdog', Australian PlafJTIt:r, 33 (3), 1996. pp 153-159; David S. Jones, 'Ray Holliday Honoured', lAndsco.pe Austraiitl, 19 (1), 1997, P 77; Swinboume, opea, p 128. 28. ViesluT'S Cielens, personal communication. 1996; Robin S. Hill, personal communication, 1997; Correspondence. Coney to Jones, 25 November 1996. p 2. 29. Hill, personal communication, 1997. David Jones 43 publication and its exhibition opened in July 1967; and an innovative group of young Adelaide archite·cts and designers, called the 'Architectural Research Group', was becoming more articulate and expressive in its commissions.3D Beyond South Australia, landscape design was changing its role from replicating manicured English gardens and parks to a questioning of Australian vegetation and landscape characteristics. In Melbourne, young designers and theoreticians David Yencken, Alistair Knox, Graeme Gunn, Evan Walker, Gordon Ford, Neil Clerehan and Ellis Stones experimented and articulated new ideas ofhousing and landscape desigiJ, often fulfilling the ideas expressed by prominent urban critic and architect Robin Boyd (1919-71).31 Richard Clough, Margaret Hendry, Harry Howard, Lindsay Robertson, Bruce Rickard, Ray Margules, Bruce Mackenzie, Professor Peter Spooner and Correy led the development of a landscape architecture community and education system in Sydney and Canberra. Magazines and newspapers, includingAuslTalian Home Beautiful, theAge, Sydney Morning Herald, and the Advertiser promoted gardening and gardening advice in their lifestyle and weekend pages. Some of these external ideas migrated to Adelaide in the 1940s and again in the 1960s. For example, the decision by. the Michells to commission Edna Walling to design their Medindie garden in the 1940s was prompted bytheir interestin Walling's writings," and Kym Bonython's decisions to engage Correy through John Chappel to advise on the landscape design of his new Leabrook residence. Considerable advances in developing the profession were achieved in . the late 1960s and early 70s, coinciding with the election of the Dunstan administration. A public lecture in Adelaide by [Dame] Sylvia Crowe (b 1901) in December 1964 on United Kingdom's landscape architecture practice, Milo Dunphy's 'Australian Environment: Post-Pioneer' address in 1963, Correy's public critique of the potential role of landscape architects in the planning and design of metropolitan Adelaide, and the engagement of Spooner to advise the Department ofTransport on the new Gorge Road associated with the Torrens Dam, all provoked debate and public comment. But few outcomes eventuated. The 1970s marked the arrival of landscape architecture in South Australia. Adelaide hosted the second Australian Institute of Landscape' Architects' biennial conference in 1971 which was organised conjointly

30. Don Gazzard (ed), Australiim OWrage-Tk Dt:cay of a VUWIl Environment: A study by the Rayal Australian Institute ofArchilects. Ure Smith, Sydney, 1966; lanes, 'The Civic Trust ofSouth Australia', op cit, pp ]53·159; Swinbourne, op ciJ. pp 128-129. 31. On Robin Boyd, see Geoffrey Serle, Robin Bayd.: A Life, Miegunyah Press, Melbourne, 1995. 32. P. Michell, personal communication, 1996. 44 20th Century Landscape Design in Adelaide with the Australian Conservation Foundation on the theme 'conservation· and the Australian landscape'." Landscape architects, including Rodney Beames, ran Barwick, Barrie Ormsby, Geoff Sanderson, John Beswick, Franeck Savarton and Chris Wren, led and designed several significant projects around the state, including the South Eastern Freeway, Duke's Highway revegetation between Keith and Bordertown, the Monarto city site," Leigh Creek South township," River Torrens Linear Park," Rundle Mall, suburban West· Lakes and Golden Grove. All are significant adventures in landscape design heavily influenced by concerns about revegetation, indigenous plant use, and establishing a regional landscape ethos." Ofthe years between 1920 and 1965, the four most prominent landscape designers were Cornish, Hill, Correy and Ray Holliday. Holliday has been reviewed elsewhere," but the other three are new subjects. •••

Elsie Marion Cornish Elsie Marion Cornish was the daughter of Samuel and Agnes Maria Cornish, born (apparently after her father's death) on 23 October 1887." The youngest of probably five children, she died on 8 October 1946, and was buried with her family at St Jude's Anglican Cemetery in Brighton. Elsie resided at 26 Palmer Place, North Adelaide, from the time her mother purchased the property in November 1888 until her own death in 1946. Prominent Adelaide architects Henry Stuckey and Edmund William Wright had previously lived in and modified the house in the years 1850-51 and 1853-65 respectively. After her death, Gavin Walkley acquired the property in March 1948, and commissioned Robin Boyd, in conjunction

33. 'Walkley, op cUt P64. 34. David S. Jones, 'Urban Designing for Imaginary Cities: the Monarto Project', Urban Derign S~ 4, 1998; Monano Development Commission, LAndscape Approach to Monarlc, Monar1o Development Commission, Adelaide, 1975; Geoff Sandenen, 'From Rural to Urban', lAndscape Au.rtrtJliD, 3n9, 1979, pp 130-138. 35. Chris Wren, 'Leigh Creek Soulh: A New Town in the North ofSoulh Australia' ,Landsco.peAustralW, 4187, 1987, pp 286-294. 36. Anon, 'River Torrens Study, SA', lAndscapeAusrralU2, 2/86, 1986, pp 109·110. 37. David S. Jones, Scatt Heyes, Peter McPheal & lared Wilson, ,Landscape Architecturt in South AwtralUl: Q profik ofprojects, Australian Institute ofLandscape Architects (South Australian Group), Adelaide, 1998. 38. Jones, 'Landscape Pioneer Honoured', op cil; Jones, 'Ray Holliday Honoured', op ciJ. 39. A more detailed review of Els.ie Cornish is: David S. Jones, 'Elsie Marion Cornish', LDndsc(J~ Au.rtralit2, 1198, 1998; Correspondence, Anne McCutcheon to Sarah WoocIbum, 15 October 1987, pp 1-2. David Jones 45 with Walkley & W~lbourne, to design the existing cantilevered two-storey residence.40 Unknown to Walkley was the property's significance as a residence for Cornish. When he first tenanted the property it was unkempt and possessed a somewhat rambling front garden. To the rear were two Glory Vines on a pergola and a plant nursery. Raised up some O.3m by timber hoardings, the nursery contained rows of young and exotic plantings, but particularly rows of succulents. Walkley retained the two vines in the new house, and a selected and planted a young Grevillea robusta in the front yard." Elsie appears to have begun her career as a professional gardener in about 1916, and to have gradually developed an interest in landscape gardening and design while progressively acquiring a strong group of private clients in Adelaide." Of her projects few are known. However, two design and management projects included the maintenance and design of the lower portion of the University of Adelaide'S North Terrace campus and the Pioneer Women's Garden below Government House. Elsie was engaged by the University on 1 September 1934, on a salary of £212 and died unexpectedly while still in their employ" Her engagement, on the personal recommendation of Waiter Bagot, was illustrative of Bagot's use of her as a regular consultant on landscape design matters. This was the period when Bagot was 'University Architect' and about to orchestrate the design and siting of the Barr Smith Library." She was appointed to 'control', design and manage the lower grounds and in particular 'the whole of the [railway] escarpment garden, ... the whole ofthe lower site, ... [the] area of all creepers ... the care of the shrubberies, melia and celtis plantation, five cupresses on Victoria Drive, ... [the] mowing of the lawns' and the 'acre of the 14 elm trees.' The University made available to her the old 'small hand mower ... for cutting the Buffalo Lawns.''' Because of the.sunny and exposed northerly aspect of the escarpment, and its poor clayey-rubble soils, Elsie took the unusual but correct decision to plant it with a mixture of tough flowering succulents and Italian hillside

40. Anon, 'Guide',Archiucf, 3 (17), 1971, pp 34, 37; Serle,opcil, p 184; Gavin Walkley, '26 Palmer Place, Nonh Adelaide', unpublished paper, 1955, pp 1·2; Gavin Walkley, 'Wa1kIey House', Archilectzm in Australia, 62 (2), 1973, pp 66-67. 41. Walkley, personal communication, 1996. 42. Anon, 'Death of Miss Elsie Cornish: Landscape Garden Designer',Advertiser, 23 October 1948. 43. University of Adelaide fLle 063134, opened 23 April 1934. 44. Anon, 'Death of Miss Elsie Cornish .. .', op cif; Correspondence, Walter Bagot to Bampton (Acting Universiry Registrar), 23 April 1934, P 1; David S. Jones, 'A focus for celebration and ceremonial: Bagot's vision for the Library forecourt',AlklaUkan, 4 (5), 1995, P 8. . 45 Correspondence, Walter Bagot to Bampwn (Acting University Registrar), 23 April 1934, pp 1-3; Correspondence, Bampton to Elsie Cornish, 30 May 1934, pp 1-2; Correspondence, Elsie Cornish 10 Samplon, 5 June 1934, p 1; University of Adelaide me D63/34, me note 6 June 1934. 46 20th Century Landscape Design in Adelaide species. Succulents, including aloes, and cacti species, were prolific. The young succulents left in her Palmer Place garden were mostlikely destined for re-planting on the escarpment. 46 Italso appears that Eva and Lily Waite may have paid for the purchase of the plants to be located on the embankment." The unusual plantings and colourful blooms were often recorded by the Advertiser in full expansive photographs in the 1930s" ... il presenls a blaze ofcolor, and is a real adomment nOI only 10 Ihe University bUI also 10 Adelaide." Imagine a bank aboul 10feel high and 30yards long, covered wilh a cascade ofcrimson and lilac,colored flowers, andyou will have some idea ofIhe appearance at present ofIhe University grounds jusl behind the men's and women's union building. 50 Rock gardens in Ihe grounds ofIhe University are ablaze with color [sic).'l Her use ofsucculent plantsfor covering the old embankment in this area created a unique note in the city landscape. 52

The escarpment, with this regular publicity, became a prominent Adelaide attraction during the 1930s and 40s. With the construction of the Union Building additions, to a design by Robert Dickson in 1981, much of these plantings disappeared. A number of University students graduates, enrolled in the 1930s, remember seeing and talking to Elsie as she tended, weeded, mowed, and planted the lower campus. One recalls the injunction 'Never plant kikuyu in your garden!'" An incorrectly dated plaque on the University escarp­ ment steps records the role of Cornish, 'who laid out these gardens and lovingly tended them for many years.' In early May 1938 the Pioneer Women's Memorial Trust of South Australia, through its secretary Miss Phebe Watson, and chairwoman Adelaide L. Miethke, met with the City of Adelaide Town Clerk, W.C.D.

46. 'Death of Miss Elsie Comish .. .'; David S. Jones, 'Pioneer of University landscape', AddaitU'an, 7 October 1996, p 6. 47. Ad'vt:niS'er 3 August 1937. 48. Advertiser, 14January 1937; 'Gardens in University Grounds,' A.dvertiser, 1October 1935; 'utyWilhin City',Nl!Ws, 1 December 1936;Advertil'er, 14 January 1937; Advonsu, 8 October 1936; 'An Adelaide Building Seldom Seen by Public', Advertiser, 16 December 1936; Advertiier, 23 October 1938. 49. Advertiser,3 AugUSl1937. 50. News, 21 October 1937. 51. AdvI!rtisu,8 October 1938. 52. 'Death ofMiss Elsie Cornish ..., op cu. 53. Peg Sadler, Walkley, personal communications, 1996. David Jones 47

Veale, about a proposal to construct a Women's Pioneer Garden partially linked to the centenarycelebrations.54 Watson wrote to Veale in May 1938: With the approval of and consent of the Adelaide City Counci~ we desire to lay down a formal garden, with a sundilll and figure as its central unit (to denote thepassing oftime) within the base ofwhich will be placed a casket containing the records of the first centenary celebration. Our proposal is for a garden approximately 120 feet by 80 feet, surrounded by a dwarf brick wal~ with long central pathway ofbrick leading up three short steps to the sundilll ... Garden beds are provided as in the accompanying sketch, shrubs and.ornamental trees as jacaranda and flame tree, against a back­ ground ofgolden poplars ... Miss Elsie Cornish is our adviser, and the sketch submitted is, of course, capable ofmodification."

The proposal and site were adopted by Council on 20 June, and 25 July 1938, respectively. Melbourne sculptor Olna Cohn was approached in October 1938 to prepare the statue, which was unveiled on 19 April 1941 by Lady Muriel Barclay-Harvey.56 The measurements of the garden were progressively modified, as Elsie and the Trust argued with the Council about siting and planting design issues during late 1938 to late 1939; fortunately, the integrity of Elsie's design was maintained. She personally planted the original species and constructed the low patterned brickwall." During the arguments Miethke wrote to the Council in November 1939, standing firm on Cornish's design and its considered execution, in consultation with the City's Gardens Curator Mr Orchard and Veale: The Trust desires me to state, however, in fairness to Miss Cornish, and Miss Cornish herself wishes strongly to reiterate, that the Garden was made out in conformity with the late Mr Orchard's direction and supenJision ... It is probably the lack ofa perfectly free hand, or trying to work in otherpeoples' ideas which has detracted from the garden as a garden in the eyes ofthe Council

54. City of Adelaide file on the Pion"eer Women's Garden, fLle notes Veale to DB, 13 and 16 May 1938. 55. Correspondence, Watson to Veale, 20 May 1938, P 1. 56. City of Adelaide file on the Pioneer Women's Garden, file nOles, 6 June and 25 July, 1938; Slale Heritage Branch, Register Assessmenl Repon, CC1788, 90.2-90.3. 57. City of Adelaide file on the Pioneer Women's Garden, file notes: Veale to MFc. 5 August 1938; Veale to DB, 25 August 1938; Orchard to Veale, 7 Seplember 1938. 48 20th Century Landscape Design in Adelaide

All this must be said in fairness to Miss Cornish whose reputation as a Landscape Gardener stands high in the community."

It is most probable that Elsie went up into the Adelaide Hills occas­ ionally as part ofher commissions. She might have stayed with her brother the Reverend Raymond Cornish and his wife Gwenyth (nee Kniffen­ Thomas) at 'Stangate House' in Aldgate, who later served as her executors, but whether she had any role with this significant garden is not clear. It is believed, however, that Elsie had a role in the planting and landscape design of the Crafers property 'Broadlees', acquired by Misses Lily and Eva Waite in 1924. This significant garden was extensively re-developed by Eva in the style of English landscape designer Gertrude Jekyll. Eva's passion in gardening had been nurtured during her childhood and residency at 'Urrbrae House'." 'Broadlees' is the only 1930s South Australian garden known to have been based on Jekyll's ideas. Dry stone wall construction and plant selection are reminiscent of instructions in Wall & Water Gardens (1901), and cypress hedges and topiary arches mimic those at 'Brockenhurst' by John Morant in Some English Gardens (1904). Eva diligently studied Jekyll's writings and designs, visited some of Jekyll's projects while on trips to England, engaged Waiter Bagot in 1926 to complete a residence on the property, and consulted Elsie on the garden, probably on Bagot's recommendation.'" Elsie was also associated with the North Adelaide community and their churches: ... for a time {sheJwas on the honorary commitiee for the lay-out and improvement of{theJChurch ofEnglandgrounds, andfor manyyears she was closely identified with the activities associated with the parish ofChrist Church, North Adelaide, which adjoined her home in Palmer Place'1

In the words of her obituary writer in theAdvertiser, Elsie was regarded as 'one ofAdelaide's best known landscape gardeners, and was responsible for the design and care of many of the city's most beautiful gardens.' •• •

58. Correspondence, Mielhke to Veale, 1 November 1939. 59. Cielens + Wark, Phillips + Pilkington & Bernice CarringLon, Waue Historic fucincr, Uni~rsiIy of AdelJIitU: Londscape Mastu Plan, Cic:lens + Warle, Adelaide, 1996, pp 9-10. 60. Beames & Whitehill, op dJ, pp 13-14. 61. 'Death of Miss Elsie Cornish . .'; Christ Church carries a plaque that reads: 'In Loving Memory-Elsie MarioD Comish-Communicant & Worker of this Church-Died: October 20th 1946.' David Jones 49

Robin Sinclair Hill Robin Hill was born to an Adelaide valuer and his school teacher wife in 1931. Educated at King's College (now Pembroke) he undertook additional subjects in landscape painting and 'design' at the Stanley Street Art School (now South Australian School of Art). He also undertook further subjects in horticulture in the evening at the Workers' Education Association (WEA) and sculpture classes in the 1950s at Stanley Street. His parents were philosophically against Hill pursuing a career in fine arts, negotiating for him an apprenticeship at George Wills Shipping Office. However, his love of drawing, the part-time classes, and his interest in 'creative people' activities did not recede. His mother, growing sympathetic, noticed an advertisement in theAdvertiser by Kemp's Nursery at Kingswood seeking a junior to work in their garden design office, a position he duly filled. Kemp's Nursery at Kingswood was a large operation under the care of Jack Kemp in the late 1940s. Kemp was also a prolific contributor on gardening topics in the Advertiser and the Sunday Mail under the pseudonym 'Grevillea'. Max Shelley, a direct descendant of the English poet Shelley, led the design office with Richard (Dick) Massey (d 1995) as his assistant. The office's work was mainly 'English bourgeois formal' or 'very basic', often involving rose gardens, box hedges and perennial walks in domestic garden situations on the Adelaide Plains. Hill recalls that the flatness of every site represented a challenge to alleviate its tedium. But the office did explore the notion ofretaining walls, and the use ofexpensive Mintaro slate as paving." .. Stylistically the office catered for traditional formal garden ideas, typically English and drawing reference from English and Australian magazines. By the late 1940s and early 1950s Hill and Masseywere starting to embrace free-form lawns in their designs, partially influenced by the American Sunset and similar overseas magazines. Massey displayed an interest in the writings of Garret! Eckbo, whereas Hill found inspiration in Thomas Church, both prominent Californian landscape designers. 63 Angular and rectilinear forms were questioned, and both designers sought to challenge this convention. In the early 1950s Hill also started reading, or rather glossing through, the design magazines Schijner Wohnen, Das Haus, Abitare, Realities, Casa Mia, L 'Architecture d'aujourd'hui and the Italian Domus. He views these as

62. Correspondence, Robin HillLO David Jones, 5 March 1997, p 2; Robin Hill, personal communication, 1997; Swinbourne, op cif, p 54. 63. Thomas Church, GardensareforPeople, Macmillan, New York, 1955; Correspondence, HillLO Jones, 5 March 1997, p 2; Hill, personal communicalion,l997 50 20th Century Landscape Design in Adelaide important influences. The-second influence was the arrival at Kemp's of the Czech Otakar (Otto) Ruzicka who had practiced landscape design in Weihenstephan, Czechoslovakia. Ruzicka's designs were quite distinctive, and more ambitious, than those undertaken by Kemp's. He showed a play with stone, a creative use of curves and arcs, and adventure with water pools, often presented in three-dimensional drawings. Hill and Massey at that time commonly only prepared designs in two-dimensional plans. Ruzicka gave Hill inspiration and took an interest in his work, encouraging his ideas and readings in landscape design." In 1952 Hill took an eight month back-packing journey through Europe. The highlight was three months in Italy where he became fascinated with domestic and hillside gardens and their design, as distinct from the grand water and villa gardens. These remain a strong visual memory to this day. He also travelled through Austria, northern and southern Germany, and the British Isles before returning to Adelaide and Kemp's. Hill also made brief stop-overs in Java, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Egypt and Greece while travelling to and from Europe by sea. Although brief, they were an introduction to exotic cultures which were to have long term impacts upon his ideas. In Europe he also sought to attend various horticultural exhibitions and view many public and private gardens.''' During the three months spent wandering in delight around middle and upper Italy's villages, valleys, townships and gardens he was fascinated by domestic Italian gardens, as distinct from the popularly known baroque and water-filled gardens. They echoed pergolas, vines, courtyards, olives, Mediterranean climatic considerations, walled courtyards, earthy colours, stonework, and sunlight, all ingredients subtly hidden with the Adelaide landscape. Each open doorway that led into a courtyard, each low-walled yard that could be glimpsed over, each village piazza was a jewel and eagerly studied by Hill. Following four to five years more of design work, Hill and Massey established a practice as Massey & Hill with an office on Portrush Road at Glenside (now demolished by the Bumside Village complex). This was the first formal landscape design practice in Adelaide, and it operated for about 5 years before Massey and Hill established separate offices. The partnership worked successfully, however, with Massey an expert on administration and the practical craftsmanship and construction of designs, and Hill as the dreamer and ground plane and space manipulator.

64. Correspondence, Hill to Jones, 5 March 1997, p 3; Hilt, personal communication, 1997; Robert Boden, 'Obiluary-Otakar (Duo) Ruzicka 1920-1996: Unassuming gardener left legacy of beaury', LandsctlpeAwrralia, 19 (1),1997, pp 92, 119. 65. Correspondence, HillLO Jones, 5 March 1997, pp 2, 3; Hill, personal communication, 1997. David Jones 5t

About three-quarters of their work was domestic, especially from the suburbs of Beaumont and St Georges, with a spread of churches and schools, and work gained solely from word of mouth. Hill believes that Massey continued with the traditional designs started at Kemp's and Eckbo ideas in his designs. Hill, in contrast, began to dispense with free-forms in favour of ground formation, creating topographical differences, and started to explore sculptural shaping of ground planes. Under the influence ofThomas Church, the office also started using in the late 1950s disused Eucalyptus marginala railway sleepers, then available from the Mile End rail yards. 66 With the break in the partnership in 1958 Hill set up an office in Hull Street, by chance opposite the architectural office of Cheesman Doley Brabham & Neighbour. His own work became more sophisticated, often involving two to three sheets, with attention to levels, soils type, micro­ climatic considerations, strong plant applications and relevancy to Adelaide, . and further' refinement of the plant specifications first taught to him at Kemp's. He continued as a sole practitioner from 1958 to 1972, except for 2-3 years as 'Lasscocks Nurseries & Robin Hill'. During this period his design inspiration flowered and various projects buoyed his ideas. His meeting with architect Peter Muller, on the recommendation of Brian Hooper, brought him work on the Michell residence at 20 Robe Terrace and the former 1PEC building at 259 Glen Osmond Road. He supervised the construction of his 40 Old Norton Summit Road two storey stone residence, leaning over Third Creek to his Le Corbusier influenced design, and extensively planted the grounds in indigenous and bird­ attracting native species. Hill regularly provided Bruer Vogt & Highnett with landscape designs, did a mixture ofdomestic, church, institutional and park design projects, gained school projects from architects Bill Peters and Brian Polomka, and prepared designs for Fremont Park in Elizabeth. The Muller projects and Fremont Park are his most interesting design projects. Muller's commissions in the mid 1960s for 1PEC offices in each capital city brought him back home to Adelaide, and the chance co=ission by the Michells in 1964 for a house at Medindie. Muller is typified by his strong translation of Frank Lloyd Wrightian ideas, from his earlier exposure to the Talesian School, into an Australian style. Strong horizontal lines, creative use of stone, deep over-hanging eaves, play on sunlight and shade, a fascination with Japanese architecture, and the characteristic E cilroidora orAngophora coslala badge his designs. 67

66. Correspondence, Hill to lanes,S March 1997, p 3; Hill, personal communication, 1997. 67. Correspondence, Hill to lanes,S March 1997, p 3; Phillip Drew, 'Muller, Peter', in M. Emanuel (ed), CoruemportJf)'ArchiJeclS, Macmillan, London, 1980, pp571-572; Hill personal communication, 1997 52 20th Century Landscape Design in Adelaide

Muller gave Hill free reign with both designs, but encouraged his use of stone and his sensitivity with colour, light, texture, ground plane and space manipulation to establish a strong design dialogue with Muller's architecture. Muller's request to use large non-weathered random stones, rather than small organised forms of stones, and the use of pavers, stones, and gravel as ground plane treatments challenged Hill, but drew together the threads ofhis exploration with Adelaide regionalist landscape design." The Fremont Park design project came through civil engineer Joe Dames, who said, 'Just do the ideal solution. Don't worry about money'. The result was a fascinating manipulation ofground planes, the creation of a geometrically segmented water garden that could be walked across, imposition of early coloured rendered walls as sculptural vertical forms, mounding and angular steps. The three dimensional perspective prepared by Hill speaks of an amalgam of the ideas of Mexican Luis Barragan and Brazilian Roberto Burle Marx, ofwhom Hill did not know at the time, and his interest in sculptural land forms fostered at the Stanley Street Art School. The proposal met with positive client endorsement, but the earthwork costings made the design unfeasible. The third version, a severely reduced earthwork and water garden scheme, was eventually executed, although it has since been modified by Elizabeth City Council." The 1958 to 1972 period was the most pleasing time for Hill. From 1972 to 1980 he worked for the Public Buildings Department, the Monarto Development Commission (MDC), the State Planning Commission, State Planning Authority and the National Parks Service. During this time he designed and was in charge of the O'Halloran Hill, Onkaparinga Estuary and Onkaparinga Gorge broadscale tree plantation projects, amongst others.70 Philosophically, Hill progressively developed an exploration in design ideas that interwove Church's ideas following form lines and play with topography, a fascination with Italian domestic garden design part of which is contained with Mediterranean design traditions, and a desire to produce designs creative but relevant to Adelaide's climate, vegetation, colours, materials and culture. Californian and non-English literature provided the ideas and images that influenced these ideas, and chance meetings with Czech Otakar Ruzicka at Kemp's and Hungarian Steve Paszit at MDC fostered and gave confidence in this direction. In contrast to Correy, Hill maintained a quiet public profile. He was, however, engaged as a part-time lecturer in landscape design in the

68. Hill, personal communication, 1997; Pal Michell, personal communicalion, 1996. 69. Hill, personal communicalion, 1997. 70. Correspondence, Hill to Jones, 5 March 1997, p 4. David lanes 53 architecture course at the University of Adelaide, and in the landscape design classes run by the WEA, teaching over a period ofsome 17 years.71 •••

Allan Correy In late 1961 Allan Correy replied to an advertisement seeking a landscape architect at the Botanic Gardens, Adelaide. Appointed, he arrived in December 1961 to become the first landscape architect in SouthAustralia. With a Diploma in Landscape Design from King's College, University of Durham (now University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne) under Professor Brian Hackett, he then undertook a Masters in Landscape Architecture at the University ofIllinois at Urbana-Champaign, completing it in 1961. His training displays a blend of modernist European design ideas with indigenous plants, and organic Prairie design ideas expressed by landscape designer Jens Jensen and architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Like Hill, Correy was strongly influenced by designers during his early career. These included Alan Wilson, from the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney, and Nigel Ashton, who taught him garden design at the Sydney Technical College in 1950-52 and who eventually sponsored his candidature to Durham. Ashton introduced Correy to Eckbo's Landscape for Living (1950) and encouraged him to study at Durham. Upon reading the text Correy remarked, 'There and then, I decided to become a landscape architect'.n The purpose of his appointment was primarily to prepare a master plan and design for the Mount Lofty Botanic Gardens.73 However, given Lothian's diverse Consultancies, Correy was soon engaged in providing professional designs to assist Lothian's advisory role, and as a landscape architectural consultancy with the Botanic Gardens, From 1962 to 1965 Correy undertook the desigri for the Mount Lofty Botanic Gardens (1962-65), the West Wild Garden in the Botanic Gardens (1963), the Art Gallery of South Australia's Sculpture Court (1962), the grounds of the Department of Highways building (1963), the Napier Building gardens at the University of Adelaide (1963), the 'hardscape' of Queen Victoria Hospital (1966), and the Myponga Reservoir public viewing area (1965),

71. Correspondence, Hill to Jones, 5 March 1997, p 5; Hill, personal communication, 1997. 72. Correspondence, CarTey lo Jones, 26 March 1997, p 1; Allan Correy, 'Mosl Influential Books', lAruJ.scape Australia 3/92, 1992, P 206. 73. Allan CarTey, Report on the proposed development for Mount Lofty Botanic Gardens, South Australia, Adelaide Botanic Gardens, Landscape Section, Adelaide, 1965; Jones, Designed Landscapes in South Australia, p 44. 54 20th Century Landscape Design in Adelaide amongst other public projects, often as a consultant to the Gardens, architects Cheesman Doley Brabham & Neighbour, Bates Smart & McCutcheon, Stephenson & Turner, and Berry Polomka Riches & Gilbert." Significant private commissions included the Hayward garden in Medindie (1965), the Le Mercier garden in Glen Osmond (1962), the Wilson garden in Burnside (1965), the Kennedy garden in North Adelaide (1966), the David garden in Rostrevor (1966) and the Bonython garden in Leabrook (1965).75 The modernist Napier Building, on the University of Adelaide's North Terrace campus by Bates Smart McCutcheon, with its orange mosaic strip, provided Correy with an opportunity to propose 'informal groups of smooth-barked eucalypts', with (now removed) shrub and ground cover. understorey. The Gallery's Sculpture Court was de Stilj inspired and established a unique courtyard display venue for the Gallery, until recently demolished. Ideas from Garretl Eckbo's writings are also present in its strong linear design line-work with over-lapping planes and walls. The Highways Department building surrounds, for architects Cheesman Doley Brabham & Neighbour, drew inspiration from Ernest Kramer's 'Poet's Garden' at the G59 Expo in Zurich with the use ofartificial mounds similar to their use by Asplund and Lewerentz at the Woodlands Cemetery in Stockholm and by Dan Kiley in the Colorado Springs Air Force Academy. Its design structure was later mimicked along Anzac Highway by the Highways Department. The design for the Mount Lofty Botanic Gardens drew together the 18th century English picturesque and the 19th century American romantic design philosophies." The Le Mercier garden was the first publicly illustrated use of second-hand railway sleepers for retaining walls and steps in Adelaide, although Massey & Hill had been using second-handE marginata sleepers in their design projects for many years.'" This was a theme also applied in the Wilson garden. Architect John Chappel also consulted Correy on the siting and subsequent landscape design of the Bonython residence that had to accommodate a private art collection gallery onto an awkward site

74. Correspondence, CarTey to Jones, 13 June, ]996, pp 3-4; Page, op cif, pp 232, 266. 75. Anon, 'Pair oC houses', Architecture in AustraliiJ S6 (6), 1967, pp 970-971. 76. Anon,'Administration Building', Arrhitecture in Australio 59 (3), 1970, pp 468-472; Anon, 'Current Work: Main Entrance to Highways Building, Walkerville, South Ausrralia',Joumal althe lrrsrituu of Landscape Architects No 87, 1969. pp J2·13; R.G. Appleyard, 'The new wing'. Bulkrin ofthL NaliontJl Gallery of Soulh AusrralW 24 (1) Serial No 29, 1961, P 1; Correspondence, Correy to Jones, 25 November 1996, pp 4, 7-8. 77. Anon, 'Institute of Landscape Architects Information Sneet: Landscape Construction',Joumo./ ofthe Instilute ofLandscape Archi1t:crs, No 94, 1971; Correspondence, Correy to Jones, 25 November 1996, p 7; Hill, personal communication, 1997. David lanes 55 dissected by Second Creek and possessing several mature E camaldulensis trees. 78 In December 1964 Walkley enticed Miss (later Dame) Sylvia Crowe from Sydney to present an illustrated public lecture in the Adelaide Town Hall. Correy concludes that her 'presence and her inspired address did a great deal to convince some government departments of the need to hire LAs ... '79 In early 1962 Correy became associated with the Architectural Research Group. An informal but vibrant group, comprising variously Doug Mitchelmore, Brian Claridge, lan Macdonald, Robert Dickson, Newel! Platten, Phillip Farghar, Torben Schott, Derrick Kendrick and Dick Ward, it often met monthly at the University ofAdelaide or in private homes. Current urban and landscape design issues were publicly discussed in the Letters to the Editor section oftheAdveniserwhich became an outlet for their critiques and ideas. At one stage, Kensington Park was selected for an urban design project that generated a proposal reminiscent of Vallingby, Tapiola and Copenhagen.so In mid 1963 the Group asked avid conservationist and Sydney Technical College lecturer Milo Dunphy, then RAJA Environmental Committee Chair, to discuss the 'Australian Environment: Post-Pioneer' at a public lecture in which he castigated our acts of environmental vandalism and the destructive tendencies of capitalism in urban environments. 'This made quite an impact on complacent little old Adelaide."! In mid-1965 Correy. resigned from the Gardens and established an office at 1 Glen Osmond Road, Eastwood, with Ron Danvers, Geof Nairn and Keith Loffler, and accepted a half-time lectureship position from Walkley. In 1967 he left Adelaide to establish the Landscape Section ofthe New South Wales Government Architect's Branch in the Department of Public Works. Correy was an ardent conservationist. His private activities in deploring the environmental vandalism of the Hills face and the lack of professional expertise in guiding the future of metropolitan Adelaide rattled both the establishment and conservatives in the design and planning professions. His first letter to theAdveltiserin 1962 criticised the wholesale clearance of vegetation on Hayward family land above Greenhill Road. Ironically, his first private commission was from a member of the Hayward family in

78. Anon, 'House: Philip Avenue, Leabrook, SA',Archill~ctu1'l! in Ausrralia 58 (2). 1969, pp 259-261. 79. Correspondence, Correy la lanes, 3 OcLober 1996, p 1. 80..Correspondence, Correy lo lones, 3 October 1996, pp 2-3. 81. Correspondence, Correy to lanes, 25 November 1996, p 4; Correspondence, Correy to lanes, 28 January 1997, pI; Milo Dunphy, 'Aumalian Environment: Post-Pioneer', Forum:ARGArchiucrural Research Group News. October 1963, pp 1·10. 56 20th Century Landscape Design in Adelaide

Medindie." His last act was.to stand in front of a bulldozer in Montacute Road, with a group of SAlT and University of Adelaide architecture students, attempting to stop the clearing of an extensive elderly row of E camaldulensis." His first public talk, organised by the Architectural Research Group in early 1963, ruffled a few feathers amongst the planning and highway design communities. These outbursts were expressions of frustration with then parochial attitudes about urban and landscape design in Adelaide. He railed against the senseless and wanton acts of indigenous vegetation removal, the lack of creativity in road and highway design, the lack of respect for foreshores, and the dearth of understanding of the potential of the landscape architectural profession. 84 These were difficult years. Australians have a reputation for distrusting academic qualifications at the best of times, and so a landscape profession has been slow to become established ... 85 The attitude of all Adelaide councils and most Adelaidians to landscape design was that it was synonymous with gardening. 86

This frustration was also echoed in a somewhat controversial critique of the landscape design treatment of Canberra." Notwithstanding these frustrations, he found sympathetic colleagues in the architectural and horticultural communities. At his rented semi-shared house in Alpha Street, Kensington Park, he established a long-friendship with Ray and Miriam Holliday who also resided there. Ray's 'immaculate lawn and shrubbery in the backyard' was converted into an ecological experiment in Prairie style suburban gardening, 'with mown pathways to the clothes hoist, the carport ... Ray's beautiful couch lawn actually was allowed to flower in the unmowed areas and the whole yard became a dynamic garden changing spatially from month to month'," Adelaide

82. Correspondence, Carrey to Jones, 25 November 1996, p 1. 83. Correspondence, CarTey to Jones, 25 November 1996, p 1; CorTey, pen;onaJ communication, 1996; Ron Danvers, personal communication, 1997. 84. Allan CorTey, 'The role of the landscape architect in the future development of MClropolilan Adelaide'.Architectu~ in AwrraliLl 52 (2), 1963, pp 103-105; Allan Correy, 'Land Values: Changing Attitudes Towards the Australian Environment', Plllnn.ing Outlook 20 (2), 1977, pp 14-27; Correspondence, Coney to Jones, 25 November 1996, p 1. 85. A1lan Correy, quoled in Thomas Aldous & Brian Clouslon. Landscape by Design, Heinemarm, London, 1979, p 133. 86. Correspondence, Correy to Jones, 25 November 1996, p 1 87. Correspondence, Correy to Jones, 28 January 1997, p 1; A1lan Correy & Jane Correy, 'The landscape treatment of Canberra', Archit~crure in Australia 57 (4), 1968, pp 627-629; A1lan Correy & Jane Coney, 'How to naturalise Canberra', Bulletin 90 (4625), 1968, pp 45-47; Correspondence, Coney 10 Jones, 25 November 1996, pp 4-5. 88 Correspondence, Correy to Jones, 25 November 1996, pp 5-6. David lanes 57 landscape architectIan Barwick,-who also shared the same Kensington Park house in 1965, recalls, 'Allan lives and breaths landscape architecture. We used to sit in front of a log fire until two o'clock in the morning, discussing various projects and philosophies'."

Acknowledgments I gratefully acknowledge the advice and encouragement of Viesturs Cielens, 1sobel Paton, Robin & Helene Hill, Allan COITey, Gavin Walkley, Peg Sadler, Robert Thornton, Ian Barwick, Pat Michell, Ray & Miriam Holliday, Ron Danvers, Ted Dexter, Dr Jennifer Gardner, Susan Woodburn, Tony Whitehill, James Hayter, Richard Dare, David Holliday, Dr Pauline Payne and library/archive staff at The University of Adelaide, City of Adelaide Archives, Woods Bagot Archives, Primary Industries (Mount Gambier), and the Botanic Gardens of Adelaide.

89. lan Barwick, '!an Barwick', lAndsCApe Awtralio 1/85, 1985, p 5.